Being this is the last day of 2021, this will be my last weekly writing for the year.  Looking back, and considering the whole year, has it been good or evil?  For many it has not been a good year at all with sickness, jobs lost, businesses closed, people dying, and yet it has not altogether been a bad year for everyone.  We all have good days and bad days, just like there are seasons in the year, one season goes, and another comes. Nothing is permanent.  That is, except for our relationship with God.

As I was reading Ecclesiastes 3:1-13, it talks of a season for everything under the sun.

 1  To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

 2  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 

 3  A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

 4  A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

 5  A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 

 6  A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 

 7  A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

 8  A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

 9  What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?

 10  I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

 11  He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

 12  I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

 13  And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.

            Verse 13 sums it up, that we should live our lives and enjoy our labors, IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD.  Sometimes things don’t FEEL like a gift from God.  Sometimes they feel like they’re a gift from the devil.  But when it’s all said and done, God is in charge, there’s nothing under the sun that escapes His attention.  Yes, He allows us “free will”, even if it hurts us, but yet, in His compassion, He won’t leave us orphans unless we choose to be orphans.  All we have to do is call out to Him, and He’s there, and I mean RIGHT NOW!

Looking back over 2021, how many times have YOU called upon the LORD?  Is it only at church, or is it a daily thing?  I’d like to say I’ve done everything the LORD would have had me do this year, but I’m certain that isn’t the case at all, seeing there is always too much of ME, and not enough of JESUS in control of my life.  And though I can’t go back and change anything, I can certainly set my goal for 2022 to do BETTER than I did this year, to seek the LORD more and more, to listen to His voice even more carefully, and try hard not to grieve the Holy Spirit in me.  You know, the Apostle Paul said it like this in Philippians 3:7-13,

 7  But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

 8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

 9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

 10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

 11  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

 12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

 13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

 14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

            Let’s end 2021 on this note; don’t cry over spilled milk, you can’t change what you did this year, but you can strive to have a much closer relationship with Christ Jesus, starting right now.  Consider what the LORD did for you all this year.  You’re still alive, right? That means you still have an opportunity to grow in the LORD.  And if your relationship with Him hasn’t exactly been on fire, well, you know what to do…REPENT and turn fully to Him, because whether you realize it or not, you now have one less day to get things right before your “expiration date”, or His return, whichever comes first.

You may have wasted some precious time you could have spent serving God, but like Paul said, “Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before”.  New year resolutions are usually quickly forgotten and broken, but when it’s all said and done, the only thing you will take with you when your life is over, is your relationship with God.  Forget New Year resolutions, just remember how much the LORD loves you, and gave His only begotten Son for the ransom for your sins.  Keep that constantly in mind, and you’ll do just fine.  Jesus loves you, and so do I.  May the LORD exceedingly bless you in 2022!  And may you exceedingly bless the LORD!  This is the season for each of us to draw closer and closer to God.  Don’t waste it!